Thread: Cargo Barrier in a Defender?

Henry

From the base of the cargo barrier to rear door is 1.2m. The barrier itself is almost vertical. I have got the day off tomorrow, so I will take some pics for you. It will make it alot easier.

What sort of design to you have in mind? I have been thinking about the same thing and looking at both the Black Widow and the other mob. To be quite honest, for what they are charging, I do not really like the design. I am sure they are well built, they are awfully expensive.

I am interested in what other people have done with their fridge, I have a 40litre Engel and the lid almost touches the roof when open. You need to climb into the back to see into the fridge.

Will get the pics tomorrow.

Regards

My fridge is not on a fridge slide, but tucked away in a corner. Far more efficient use of room for a small penalty in speed of fridge removal, but not access to the fridge itself. I've built two shelves instead of drawers.

i would like to see pics of drawer system as well as new defenders have a big lump in the rear door which will interfere with a drawer system.
it will only allow one drawer. the engel is one of the things on my shopping list.

any one know where to one for less than the rrp of $1100?
seems a bit steep considering waeco comes in at just over half price
for same size unit, but i want the metal construction.


i might even consider the alloy models the other brands have.
any one got any feedback,ideas,experience(good or bad) with fridges i would like to hear them before i commit.

back to the fridge position if the rear seats are not being used they should be remove for long trips and the fridge fitted in place. will sit a bit lower here and accessed by opening the door. might be easier to reach there.
will also free up space in the rear.

Defenderzook -- In my old 130 I use to have the fridge sitting behind the passenger on extended trips (seats removed). BUT.....with a cargo barrier now in the 110, I would prefer having it behind the barrier. Got forbid, but I really do not want it flying around the cabin in the event of an accident. I could not live with myself should it injure someone when it could have been behind the barrier.

The seats will be coming out for our trip around Oz and just use the extra space for clothing bags, photography gear etc.

Like rmp, I was thinking of a shelf across the wheel arches, fridge permanently located in the corner (will slow any bastard from trying to steal it) and then having a vertical divider down the middle (will allow for greater stacking). Have a look at the Black Widow site, they have just released a new vertical divider ($500!!!!) for their drawer system.

I got my Engel from ARB, it was an old demo model (without the digital read out). From memory it was a couple of hundred bucks cheaper than the new one. Just from my experience, I use to co-own an Engel a few years back, and it performed faultlessly. I have not heard of too many problems with them, although there were some issues with lids not fitting properly. Really don't like the plastic idea, but I hear good things about the Autofridge which is Aussie made.

rmp -- any chances of your shelves for inspiration? Any thoughts on what you might do differently if you were doing it again?

Regards

Originally posted by Noddy
Defenderzook -- In my old 130 I use to have the fridge sitting behind the passenger on extended trips (seats removed). BUT.....with a cargo barrier now in the 110, I would prefer having it behind the barrier. Got forbid, but I really do not want it flying around the cabin in the event of an accident. I could not live with myself should it injure someone when it could have been behind the barrier.


Regards

i didnt write it but use a couple of eyelets bolted to the floor to tie down the fridge with turnbuckles.
these will be under the seat when refitted and out of the way.

like the ones for the jack dont interfere with anything.


thanks for the info... i will look into those fridges
was looking at engel as they seem to have nothing but good reports
and go forever. one tagalong tour operator told me he had for 18 years
and its still going. thats a good report cos you know its been bouncing
around a hellovalot in the outback.

Photos will be coming.

Waeco make great fridges, smaller, cheaper and lighter than Engels but the same internal capacity. My CF40 has worked very well.

The two-shelf system is fairly refined now. The lower shelf is 1000x1500 (2 x 500 x 1500 18mm ply) raised so there is 330mm of space between the floor and the bottom of the first shelf. That is so a Tirfor, toolbox, compressor etc etc etc can fit in. Little things like survival blankets are put between the shelf and the wheelarches. This area is for tools, spares, fluids and recovery gear, all the heavy stuff.

The second shelf is 1000 x 1000 (2 x 500x1000) and sits on six fenceposts I found at Bunnings. The fridge is stuck hard into the left rear corner of the vehicle. This area between the shelves is for food.

On top of the second shelf lives the tent, and on top of then are personal bags, camping chairs etc.

Under the rear seat is a torch, extra snatch strap, first-aid kit, wheel chocks and whatever my daughter has recently been eating.

I'm on my fourth build of this system over two vehicles. The latest build uses 18 not 12mm ply, and has metal T-bar plates for even more stiffness. The fridge sits on two rubber rectangles (from Clarke's Rubber) and is bolted down.

The whole thing is bolted to the body by four inverted-L brackets, again from Bunnings. Needed to drill a hole in the body, but it was begging for it anyway.

I'm just about to start on a rebuild of my simple drawers (2nd iteration out of my old Rangie). So I may just wait and see whatcomes up over the next few days in the line of pictures.

The system at the moment




Bushie

i take it you slide that drawer out carefully so as not to overbalance
or drop it, is that right?